FOR PARENTS

Karen Murphy established ideal Nannies in 1988. Since then the agency has gained an excellent reputation with the majority of business coming through recommendation. Karen is a qualified NNEB, trained Montessori teacher and an experienced nanny. Our aim is to supply you with staff carefully matched to your individual requirements. We will listen to your specific requests and will endeavour to find staff with a close match to these needs. To achieve this, we take care to ensure all potential nannies, maternity nurses and mother’s helps are personally interviewed and reference checked to a very high standard. We check identity against passports or birth certificates and explore any gaps in their employment history.

WHAT WE OFFER

We offer permanent, live-in, live out and temporary nannies, mother’s helps and maternity nurses. Our goal is to find the most compatible candidate for you. We will have close contact with you, the client, throughout the process and will only put forward candidates that we feel are well suited to your families needs.

We have put the following information together as general advice and guidance for parents planning to employ a nanny, mother’s help or maternity nurse. We hope you find it useful and that you will not hesitate to call us for further advice. If you have any comments or advice that you think would be helpful to us or to other parents we would appreciate hearing from you.

OUR NANNIES

Our nannies are either qualified or have experience. Not all nannies take a formal childcare training but nevertheless make excellent nannies through the experience they have gained over the years. They have a high level of commitment and will be intelligent and responsible enough to take sole charge of your children.

OUR MATERNITY NURSES

Our maternity nurses are either with or without formal qualifications. The maternity nurses without qualifications boast years of experience. The majority of the rest are NNEB’s, some are midwifes and some specialise in working with twins. Maternity nurses help you handle the problems of a new baby and will give you the confidence to cope on your own.

OUR MOTHER’S HELPS

Our mother’s helps assist with the day to day running of the household. They will normally be young people with limited experience of caring with children. Although, they are capable, enthusiastic and love being with children we do advise that they only be given sole charge of children after supervision from the family.

FINDING A NANNY

Once we find a prospective nanny we be in touch and give you her full details. If you are interested the nanny will call you to arrange an interview.

It is always helpful to have the children at home so that they can meet the nanny. You can see how they interact with each other, but do try to have someone there to look after the children during most of the interview. Always ask to see her references and/or Diploma.

It is always helpful to have some questions ready:

• Find out as much as you can about previous jobs and how long she stayed at each one.
• How would she organise her day and what activities would she do with the children.
• Try and talk about the nanny’s views on discipline, coping with tantrums, mealtimes and sleeping routines. You know your own, but need to establish if the two of you are compatible.
• Give your views about friends and other nannies, who may call or visit your home. If she is to be live-in a list of house rules can help, including use of the telephone, watching TV, listening to music and inviting her friends (male or female) around after work hours.
• Discuss any arrangements about cars and driving. Does she have a clean licence?
• Make sure you cover what duties you expect from her. Include in your discussion washing, ironing, cooking and shopping for the children.
• Ask about her health: does she suffer from any allergies, etc.
• Ask some personal questions. Does she have a boyfriend? Where are her family and how does she relate to them.
• The more she talks the more you will find out about her.

If you are happy with the first interview then ask the nanny to come back for a few hours to spend time with you and your child/children. When you have decided on the right nanny try and spend a few days with her before you return to work (if you are going to) so that you can get to know each other. This will also give her a chance to establish a relationship with the child/children and have an understanding of their routine before being left in sole charge, or if you are replacing a nanny it is always a good idea to have at least a week of hand over.

If you feel the nanny is not suitable for your family please contact us with your concerns.
Below is an outline of a typical nanny job, it is for you to refer to when drawing up your contracts and so that you know a little of what to expect. We advise you to have a contract so that both parties have something to refer back to if any problems or issues arise. We also have a sample contract if you would like to see one.

A SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION

• General daily care of the children with sole charge Monday to Friday for up to 12 hours a day for a live-in post and up to 11 hours a day for daily. Babysitting and weekend arrangements should be specified for live-in nannies. Normally babysitting is required two nights a week if they live-in.
• To provide a safe, secure and loving environment for your children.
• Duties will include preparing meals, sterilising bottles, preparing feeds etc. Washing, ironing and putting away the children’s clothes, making sure they have appropriate clean clothes available each day. Tidying the children’s bedrooms and playrooms.
• Taking the children to activities during the week. Taking them to school/nursery and picking them up.
• Ensuring the children meet other children for play opportunities regularly and to try and stimulate your child’s all round development.
• Taking the children to the Health Centre for check ups, vaccinations etc and to the dentist when necessary.
• Checking and ensuring that there are sufficient supplies such as bread, milk, nappies, wipes etc for each day, buying items at local shops if necessary, keeping an account of all money spent.
• Organising birthday parties for the children.
• A live-in nanny should have her own private room and either have a separate bathroom or share with the children. If a car is needed one should be provided and the employer should pay insurance and tax. It will be up to the individual employer if the use of the car is extended to out of work hours.
• The salary will vary according to duties, experience, qualifications and how many children are to be cared for. An average live-in wage is £300 - £500 net per week. An average daily wage is from £400 - £600 net per week. Salary is given as a net amount and the employer is responsible for paying Tax and National Insurance. Once you have employed a nanny you must inform your local tax office. There are now companies that will deal with this for you and we recommend NannyTax.
• Both you and the nanny should expect to give a months notice if the position comes to an end.

AFTER EMPLOYMENT

After a week or so it is a good idea to have a meeting with your nanny to discuss the new job. This gives both of you the chance to discuss any worries or problems that may have arisen. Try to be completely frank if you do have a problem, these things can be worked out most of the time if discussed and it will avoid resentment growing. Remember you can always get in touch with us if you need any advice.

IDEAL NANNIES Daily / Part Time Nanny Job

IDEAL NANNIES Live in / Overseas Nanny Job

IDEAL NANNIES Maternity / Temp Nanny Job